MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

12/16 Great pizza. Greater cause.

On Thursday night, Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster and D’Agostino’s restaurant in Wrigleyville will throw a pizza party to benefit the Ryan and Jenny Dempster Family Foundation to help children with DiGeorge syndrome. Ryan and Jenny know the problems associated with the rare genetic disorder too well because their daughter, Riley, born in April, was diagnosed with DiGeorge syndrome.

“If some pizza will help raise awareness than we are going to throw the ultimate pizza party,” restaurant manager Scott D’Agostino said.

Tickets are $100 per person (kids get in for half price and children under 2 are free) and includes an open bar, trivia games, raffles, giveaways, and all the pizza you can eat.

All proceeds will be donated to the Ryan and Jenny Dempster Family Foundation, a non-profit organization created to support families affected by DiGeorge Syndrome. DiGeorge can cause over 180 symptoms, including difficulty swallowing, heart failure, speech impairments, learning disabilities and immune deficiencies. Recent studies suggest that as many as one in every 2,000 births is affected by this disorder.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do for Riley,” Dempster said. “Not just for Riley, but other kids, too. Whatever we can do to create awareness, raise money and get people in-the-know, that’s what we want to do.”

Tickets are limited and can be purchased in advance at MyWrigleyville.com. The website also lists the raffle items, which include four suite tickets to a Chicago Blackhawks game, four tickets to a Chicago Bulls game, a Murphy’s Bleachers gift pack, a 50-minute massage, and Cubs tickets. There also are silent auction items, including a Dempster-signed jersey and a 42-inch plasma TV.

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